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19/03/2012

Fund manager leaves Financière de l'Echiquier

Jean-Noel Roffiaen has left Financière de l’Echiquier slightly under two years after joning the firm, Citywire Global reports. He had been manager of the Echiquier Quatuor fund (EUR125m), which will now be managed by Jose Berros.
19/03/2012

Skandia IG withdraws a mandate from J.P. Morgan AM

Skandia Investment Group (SIG) has appointed international equities manager Five Oceans Asset Management to manage its USD350m Skandia Global Equity Fund mandate. The mandate has, until now, been run by J.P. Morgan Asset Management. The Skandia Global Equity Fund will be managed in a similar manner to the Five Oceans World Fund.
19/03/2012

Polar Capital merges two funds

Polar Capital is merging two vehicles (UK fund and Ratio European Opportunities) to create a new high-yield fund, Investment Week reports. The Polar Capital Market Neutral fund aims for net returns of 10% per year.
19/03/2012

Janus Capital recruits a salesperson in Italy

Janus Capital has recruited Carlo Roncalli, a sales executive at JP Morgan Asset Management, to strengthen its Italian team, Bluerating reports. Roncalli began in his new position at Janus, as sales director, on Monday, 12 March.
19/03/2012

French shares not a focus for German investors

In Morningstar’s date base, in Germany there are only nine funds specialised in French large caps, compared with 58 funds focused on their German counterparts, Financial Times Deutschland reports. However, despite this home bias, German investors have not missed out on much in the past three years, as the CAC 40 gained only 13.5%, and the MSCI Europe gained 20.3%, while the average performance of France funds rated by Morningstar came to only 11.3%.However, the best funds outperformed their benchmark through successful active management: the Métropole France A and Fidelity France A funds earned 17.2% and 15.2%, respectively. Nonetheless, these results should be viewed in relative terms, since the third-place fund is a tracker fund, the SSgA France Index Equity Fund P (+15.1%) from State Street.
19/03/2012

PRIPS directive to be published in late April

The Packaged Retail Investment Products (PRIPS) directive may be unveiled by the end of the month of April, Claude Kremer, current president of the European finance and asset management association (EFAMA) announced at a press conference on 16 March.The document would define cross-border legislation applicable to all investment products, whether they originate from the banking or insurance sectors, or if they are pure financial products.Kremer claims that the PRIPS directive needs to be put in place at the same time as the revised financial markets directive (MiFID 2) and the insurance mediation directive (IMD 2), in order to insure equivalence in sales conditions.The director general of EFAMA, Peter De Proft, for his part, says that the working group on ETFs at the association, which broke up in disagreement in December last year, is making progress towards a consensus on issuers which have since been dissected by the European securities markets authority (ESMA).The president of the French financial management association (AFG), Paul-Henri de la Porte du Theil, for his part, insists that there is a need to keep competition in mind with these regulations. “We are increasingly seeing a competitive dimension in regulations by the Americans and the Chinese, while Europeans are considering relatively pure regulations for entirely legitimate reasons. But Europeans also need to consider this dimension of competitiveness, if they don’t want to get left in the dust,” he says.“We need to ensure that our products are not perceived as complex and unclear due to intense effort at transparency. Be careful: too much transparency can result in a lack of clarity,” de la Porte du Theil continues.
19/03/2012

Quality of US ETF replication improves

According to a study by Morgan Stanley, tracking error between US ETFs and their underlying indices averaged 0.52 percentage points in 2011, compared with 0.74% in 2010, and 1.25 points in 2009, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. Analysis shows that the proportion of funds with a low tracking error increased, while the number of products with a high tracking error fell. The study covered nearly all ETFs listed in the United States, excluding actively-managed products, products backed by physical commodities, and leveraged and short products.
19/03/2012

Former Norwegian Oil Fund lost 2.5% in 2011

Falling equity markets have resulted in a loss of NOK86bn, or 2.5% for the Government Pension Fund – Global (GPFG), the former Norwegian Oil Fund.Losses on equities totalled 8.8%, while the bond allcoation generated returns of 7%, due to the rising value of US, British and German bonds.Performance overall was 0.1 percentage points lower than those of the GPFG’s benchmark indices, says Yngve Slyngstad, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the asset management firm of the Bank of Norway.Assets in the fund increased over the year by NOK234bn, to total NOK3,312bn as of the end of December, with postive forex effects of NOK49bn due to a falling Norwegian kroner. Inflows of capital from the Norwegian government totalled NOK271bn, the highest level since 2008. The portfolio was 58.7% invested in equities, 41% in bonds, and 0.3% in real estate.The GPFG states that assets whose management has been outsourced were reduced to NOK145bn from NOK283bn.
19/03/2012

Mirabaud allies alternative management and charity

With the Luxembourg-registered fund of hedge funds Mirabaud Opportunities Emerging Markets, launched in late 21011, which has already raised USD100m in assets but does not yet have a sales license in France, the Swiss firm Mirabaud has released a product which “allies the theme of domestic consumer spending in emerging markets with active alternative management to reduce volatility, and to the concept of sharing,” Lionel Aeschlimann, a partner at Mirabaud and head of asset management at the firm, explains to Newsmanagers.The portfolio of the fund, including about 20 positions, is allocated to traditional funds and alternative managers (largely global emerging markets, tactical alpha and global macro strategies). In its selection process, the Swiss asset management firm has opted for a global environmental, social and governance (ESG) approach, based on a best-in-class design. Aeschlimann says that “one of the original qualities of the fund is that we have been able to get all the managers of underlying funds to agree to exclude business which are involved in the production of weapons.”Mirabaud has also given the fund a sharing dimension, which contributes to Interpeace, an NGO which acts to mediate conflicts, and deliberately maintains a low media profile. As Aeschlimann explains, with this fund, “it is not the client who makes the donation directly: the investor decides the percentage of the management commission and the performance commission which Mirabaud donates to Interpeace. And we also have share classes for clients who are not interested in this sharing concept.”
19/03/2012
Gestion d'actifs

La Carpimko a renforcé sa poche immobilière en 2011 au moyen de 3 OPCI

Selon nos informations, la Carpimko, Caisse Autonome de Retraite et de Prévoyance des Infirmiers, Masseurs- Kinésithérapeutes, Pédicures-Podologues, aurait sélectionné trois OPCI (OPCVM ouverts) dans le cadre de la diversification de sa poche immobilière, par le biais d’un appel d’offres mené en novembre 2011 avec l’aide du consultant Amadeis. Le montant total de cet investissement serait de l’ordre de 40 millions d’euros.
Gestion d'actifs
19/03/2012

FSA CEO to step down at the end of June

The Financial Services Authority on 16 March announced that its CEO for the past five years, Hector Sants, has announced plans to leave his job at the end of June 2012, as he has completed his mission to deploy the necessary changes to apply the government’s plans to split the regulatory body into two agencies («twin peaks» scheme), one focused on prudential control, and one on “financial conduct,” to be known as the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The new structure will be operational from 2 April 2012, but the creation of the PRA and the FCA will legally come into effect only at the beginning of 2013, if the parliamentary process proceeds as expected.Following the departure of Sants, Andrew Bailey will succeed him as CEO of the Prudential Business Unit (PBU), which will become the PRA. Martin Wheatley will remain as head of the Conduct Business Unit (CBU), and will then become the CEO of the FCA. The two managers will report directly to Lord Adair Turner, chairman of the FSA.
19/03/2012

Inverco calls for less strict owners' equity requirements

In its comments to the Spanish Treasury about proposed new regulations for asset management firms, the professional association for the sector, Inverco, asks for the bill to impose less strict owners’ equity requrements than in the current version, and that it would reduce the minimal requirement for equity in the business from EUR300,000 to EUR125,000, Funds People reports.In addition, Inverco is seeking for graduated owners’ equity requirements depending on asset levels to be eliminated, and replaced by an increase of only 0.02% in the required regulatory capital depending on the volume of assets under management, if they are over EUR250m (the level set by the UCITS IV directive).The association recommends eliminating the requirements to increase regulatory capital when asset management firms sell their own products directly. It is also asking that assets which come from outsourcing agreements be deducted from the calculation of the total owners’ equity levels required.Lastly, Inverco suggests that the total amount of owners’ equity that should be required should not exceed EUR10m.According to the association’s calculations, Spanish asset management firms are facing capital requirements equivalent to 624% of those laid out by the UCITS IV directive.
19/03/2012

DJ/CS Hedge Fund Index up 1.61% in February

After returns of 2.34% in January, the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index has posted gains of 1.61% in February, and has gained 3.98% in the first two months of the year. Only one of the ten sub-strategies of the fund shows losses: dedicated short bias, which lost 4.66% in February, after losing 7.58% in January, with cumulative losses of 11.88% in the first two months of the year. The two best performers in February were emerging markets (2.92%, compared with 3.75% in January), and long/short equity (2.64% compared with 3.91%).
19/03/2012

Achmea sells 9.6% of F&C AM

The Dutch insurer Achmea announced on Thursday that it has agreed to divest 51,128,190 shares in the UK asset manager F&C Asset Management plc, representing its entire shareholding of 9.6% of the outstanding share capital of the company. The sale is expected to be settled on 20 March, 2012."The sale is in line with Achmea’s de-risking policy and has no effect on Achmea’s relationship with F&C Asset Management as one of Achmea’s principal asset managers.», says the insurer in a press release.
19/03/2012

Barclays Wealth recruits from Chelsea Financial Services

Matthew Woodbridge, head of investment products at Chelsea Financial Services, will be leaving the firm to join Barclays Wealth, Money Marketing reports. Woodbridge will be leaving the firm on 5 April, to join Barclays Wealth as vice president. He will work with low-tax vehicles and structured products.
19/03/2012

Deux fonds se penchent sur Afflelou

Selon le Journal du Dimanche, Bain Capital et Lion Capital s’intéressent à l’opticien détenu par Bridgepoint et Apax malgré un prix d’environ 700 millions d’euros. Le journal indique que les candidats doivent faire à des conditions difficiles, et composer notamment avec Alain Afflelou, «très manœuvrier».
19/03/2012

Le yen reste sur une pente descendante

La devise nipponne est tombée cette nuit à son plus bas niveau depuis octobre dernier contre euro à 110,15, avant de revenir à 109,91. Elle est restée stable contre dollar, à 83,46. Les positions courtes sur le yen ont atteint la semaine dernière leur plus haut niveau depuis onze mois, à 42.380 contrats, après 19.358 la semaine précédente, selon les données de la Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
19/03/2012

Lehman se désengage de Neuberger Berman

850 millions de dollars, c’est le montant qu’a déjà retiré Lehman Brothers Holdings de la cession de sa participation dans la société de gestion Neuberger Berman. L’opération devrait lui rapporter au bout du compte autour de 1,5 milliard de dollars. Les fonds ainsi récoltés pourront être reversés aux créanciers non sécurisés. Lehman avait acquis Neuberger Berman en 2003 pour 2,6 milliards de dollars.
19/03/2012

Edmond de Rothschild se rapproche de Londres

Après l’ouverture du bureau allemand de sa société de gestion EdR Asset Management, le groupe Edmond de Rothschild va créer une société commune avec RIT Capital Partners, une entité proche de la branche britannique des Rothschild. Il souhaite s’implanter durablement au Royaume-Uni
19/03/2012

Bruxelles tend une main aux assureurs

Les eurodéputés pourraient voter mercredi des assouplissements à Solvabilité 2 qui limiteraient la volatilité du cadre prudentiel applicable en 2014.

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